University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences

The University of Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences brings biological, physical, and social scientists together to identify, teach, and publicize environmental solutions. This award, managed by Dr. Dan Miller, supports a study on the impact of MacArthur Foundation’s 36 years of conservation funding in a variety of geographies. This project aims to document learning, including ideas about what worked and what did not, as well as how and why foundation-supported initiatives and the overall conservation agenda endures, ends, or evolves over time, and then communicate these through peer-reviewed publications, reports, case studies, and stories for the benefit of other donors and the conservation field.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at The University of Illinois is an interdisciplinary unit in applied sciences that identifies, teaches, and publicizes solutions for environmental sustainability. This development grant is helping to create a comprehensive research methodology used to better understand the effectiveness of funding in conservation and sustainable development. Conservation financing is a growing academic field that with more systematic investigation has the potential to greatly benefit impacts of environmental conservation efforts worldwide.